Boy bitten by shark on NC Outer Banks; sixth attack in two weeks

Chuck Burton / AP

Vacationers walk in the surf in Oak Island, N.C., Monday, June 15, 2015, the day after a 12-year-old girl from Asheboro lost part of her arm and suffered a leg injury, and a 16-year-old boy from Colorado lost his left arm about an hour later and 2 miles away in two separate shark attacks off Oak Island.

Vacationers walk in the surf in Oak Island, N.C., Monday, June 15, 2015, the day after a 12-year-old girl from Asheboro lost part of her arm and suffered a leg injury, and a 16-year-old boy from Colorado lost his left arm about an hour later and 2 miles away in two separate shark attacks off Oak Island.

(Chuck Burton / AP)

The Associated Press

Teen bitten in sixth shark attack off North Carolina coast in 2 weeks

Officials say a 17-year-old boy is the latest victim of a shark attack off North Carolina's coast, the second attack in as many days and the sixth attack in the past two weeks.

Rescue personnel and park rangers responded to the boy, who received what they described as injuries to his right calf, buttocks and both hands while swimming in the Outer Banks on Saturday, according to a post on the National Park Service's Facebook page. The boy was swimming with others when he was bitten, but no one else was hurt, officials said.

The unidentified teenager was treated at the scene before being airlifted to a Norfolk, Virginia, hospital, the park service said.

On Friday, a North Carolina man was bitten on his back and leg in Avon while playing in the surf with his children. A 43-year-old man was also attacked by a shark near Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, on Friday. Both men were treated for non-life threatening injuries.

Sharks have attacked several children along North Carolina's coast this month, including a 13-year old girl who lost her left arm below the elbow and a 16-year-old boy who lost his left arm above the elbow, about 90 minutes apart, at Oak Island.

Nervous about swimming in the ocean this summer after recent reports of shark attacks?

While experts say the number of people being bitten by sharks has increased overall since the 1970s, the likelihood of a swimmer being attacked by a shark at the beach is one in 11.5 million, according to the...